the financial model
here's exactly where the money goes. no hidden fees. no investor-first economics. one cooperative. two member types. every dollar visible.
money in
the cooperative has two revenue streams. both are straightforward.
monthly dues
all members
every member — businesses and cells alike — pays monthly dues. this funds operating costs: legal fees, insurance, hosting, platform maintenance, board expenses, the reserve fund, and the core platform (shared infrastructure like authentication, design systems, notifications).
project pledges
businesses
businesses pledge toward specific projects on top of dues. pledges are ring-fenced — money pledged for the invoicing tool goes to the invoicing tool, not to general operations. during the build phase, pledges are escrowed for the contracted duration.
access fees
new members
new members joining existing projects pay an access fee that amortizes the initial build cost. a portion is credited back to the original pledging members, reducing their effective cost over time. cells earn a recurring, vesting share of access fees from projects they built.
money out
cells submit a monthly budget for the coming month's work — labor, hosting, tools, everything. the budget is submitted ahead of time, not after the fact. here's how it flows:
public budgets
category-level budget summaries are visible to every member of the cooperative. the board reviews detailed line items. no secret costs, no hidden margins.
auto-approval
budgets at or below the original bid cap are auto-approved. the board only intervenes on overages or anomalies. no monthly chokepoint.
cell margin
the cell's margin is the difference between their bid cap and their actual spend. that margin is the cell's money — theirs to keep, no questions asked. cells are rewarded for efficiency.
budget caps
a cell's monthly budget cannot exceed the project's pledged revenue. the money in caps the money out. if pledges drop below the minimum viable maintenance cost, the board funds from treasury or initiates a deprecation vote.
patronage & surplus
the cooperative tracks patronage — how much each member has contributed over time. this is standard cooperative practice and determines how year-end surplus gets distributed.
business patronage
dues + pledges
you contributed money toward operating costs and specific projects — that's your patronage.
cell patronage
dues + paid budgets
your dues plus the budgets the cooperative actually paid for your work. based on what was spent, not what was requested.
surplus split
50/50
year-end surplus is split into two pools. 50% to the business pool, distributed pro-rata by each business's total dues + pledges. 50% to the cell pool, distributed pro-rata by each cell's total dues + paid budgets. each class benefits from the value they created.
the 50/50 split is a starting point. the membership can vote to adjust it. patronage is tracked automatically. no manual accounting.
governance and voting
structural decisions — bylaws, membership terms, new member classes — require approval from a majority of each member class independently. neither class can outvote the other. day-to-day operations — budget approvals, project launches, cell certifications — are delegated to an elected board composed of members from both classes.
cooperative treasury
there is one treasury for the entire cooperative — not one per cell, not one per project. every transaction is visible to every member. dues flow in. project pledges flow into ring-fenced funds. access fees from new members amortize build costs. approved budgets flow out to cells.
the board manages the treasury as part of their elected duties. they report monthly to the full membership. if the membership doesn't like what they see, they elect a new board.
exit protections
the system is designed so nobody gets screwed on the way out:
membership is voluntary — any member can leave at any time. you stop paying dues, you lose governance rights. no lock-in, no penalties.
no external sales — membership interests can't be sold to outside parties without cooperative approval. this prevents hostile takeovers and ensures the co-op stays in the hands of the people who use it.
fork freedom — if you leave, you take the source code, your data (via self-serve export), and the right to run and modify the software for your own business — including hiring any developer or agency to host it for you. you cannot resell, sublicense, or offer the forked code as a hosted service. the exit is real and practical.
the safety valve — if the cooperative ever stops serving its members, the members can walk. what you get as a member that you don't get from just forking: hosted infrastructure on cooperative-owned accounts, ongoing maintenance, governance rights, community support, new features, access fee revenue sharing, and the cooperative's brand and trust.
the bottom line: every dollar is visible. every budget is public. structural decisions require both member classes. surplus goes back to the people who created it. and if you leave, you leave with the code — the only thing you lose is the seat you chose to walk away from.